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Background Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) refers to a disease entity in which

Background Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) refers to a disease entity in which polyglutamine aggregates are over-produced in Purkinje cells (PCs) of the cerebellum as well as other neurons in the central nervous system, and the formation of intracellular polyglutamine aggregates result in the loss of neurons as well as deterioration of motor functions. of human MSCs (hMSCs) can rescue cerebellar PCs and ameliorate motor function deterioration in SCA in a pre-clinical animal model. Method Transgenic mice bearing poly-glutamine mutation in ataxin-2 gene (C57BL/6J SCA2 transgenic mice) were serially transplanted with hMSCs intravenously or intracranially before and after the onset of motor function loss. Motor function of mice was evaluated by an accelerating protocol of rotarod test every 8 weeks. Immunohistochemical stain of whole brain sections was adopted to demonstrate the neuroprotective effect of hMSC transplantation on cerebellar PCs and engraftment of hMSCs into mice brain. Results Intravenous transplantation of hMSCs effectively improved rotarod performance of SCA2 transgenic mice and delayed the onset of motor function deterioration; while intracranial transplantation failed to achieve such neuroprotective effect. Immunohistochemistry revealed that intravenous transplantation was more effective in the preservation of the survival of cerebellar PCs and engraftment of hMSCs than intracranial injection, which was compatible to rotarod performance of transplanted mice. Conclusion Intravenous transplantation of hMSCs can indeed delay the onset as well as improve the motor Rabbit Polyclonal to ARPP21 function of SCA2 transgenic mice. The results of this preclinical study strongly support further search of the feasibility to transplant hMSCs for SCA patients. Background Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a group of inherited neurological disorders that are clinically and genetically very heterogeneous. They are progressive neurodegenerative diseases that are characterised buy 58186-27-9 by cerebellar ataxia, producing in unsteady gait, clumsiness, and dysarthria. The cerebellar syndrome is usually often associated with other neurological indicators such as pyramidal or extrapyramidal indicators, ophthalmoplegia, and cognitive impairment [1]. Pathogenetic mechanism applies to SCAs caused by buy 58186-27-9 expansions of CAG repeats encoding polyglutamine tracts, as in the genes that underlie SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, SCA7, SCA17, and dentatorubro-pallidoluysian atrophy, the so-called polyglutamine growth SCAs [2,3]. Other SCA subtypes are caused by expansions in non-coding regions of genes for SCA8, SCA10, SCA12, and SCA31, and rare conventional mutations in SCA genes [2,3]. Mutant phenotype in the polyglutamine growth SCAs has been widely considered to be primarily a result of a toxic gain-of-function in the mutant proteins in affected neurons [4,5]. Atrophy of the cerebellum and brainstem are most often the prominent features, but other structures can be affected, leading to a substantial range of phenotypes [5,6]. So far there is usually no remedy of polyglutamine growth SCAs although various therapeutic strategies have been postulated including silencing gene manifestation buy 58186-27-9 [7], increasing protein clearance, reducing the toxicity of the protein, influencing downstream pathways activated by the mutant protein and transplantation [4]. For symptom treatment, levodopa is usually temporarily useful for rigidity/bradykinesia and for tremor, and magnesium for muscle cramps in SCA2 patients [8], but neuroprotective therapy is usually not clinically available. In 1999, Low et al. reported that cerebellar allografts survived and transiently alleviated ataxia in a transgenic mouse model of SCA1 [9]. Subsequently, grafting murine neural precursor cells promoted cerebellar PCs survival and functional recovery in an SCA1 mouse model [10]. Murine MSCs (mMSCs) had been shown to be able to rescue PCs through liberating of neurotrophic factors and improve motor functions in a mouse model of cerebellar ataxia [11]. Although the surface phenotype and multilineage potential of mMSCs used in this study [11] was not exhibited completely, these results suggested that MSC transplantation may be beneficial to SCA2 transgenic mice. MSCs are defined as plate-adhering, fibroblast-like cells possessing self-renewal ability with the capacity to differentiate into multiple mesenchymal cell lineages such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and adipocytes. MSCs are easily buy 58186-27-9 accessible and isolated from a variety of tissues such as bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, trabecular bone, synovial membrane, and adipose tissue [12-16]. MSCs also provide the advantage of minimizing immune reactions because cells can be derived from the respective patient. Furthermore, several human trials of MSCs have shown no adverse reactions to allogenic MSC transplants [17,18]. Many studies show that systemically administrative hMSCs home to site of ischemia or tissue injury to repair injured tissues [19]. MSCs transplantation had been adopted in several clinical trials of neurological disease, including of multiple system atrophy [20], Parkinson’s disease [21], amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [22], and ischemic stroke [23] with encouraging early or long-term results. In our previous studies, we showed that clonally derived human MSCs (hMSCs), under chemically defined conditions, differentiate into neuroglial-like cells that not only express neuroglial-specific genes but also had a resting membrane potential and voltage-sensitive calcium channels on the membrane [13]. We also showed that in utero transplantation of hMSCs in mice contributed to numerous tissues, including the brain and spinal cord [24]. Donor hMSCs engrafted into murine tissues originating from all three germ layers and persisted for up.